More than a year after beginning the process, the Lansing City Council Thursday approved boundaries for its four wards.
The city discussed the necessity to change the boundaries and reviewed maps in two previous work sessions —†one in late 2011 and one this year, within the last six months.
The changes are necessary to account for population shifts indicated in the results of the 2010 Census. By law, the populations in the different wards are to be as equal as possible — within 5 percent.
The new ward boundaries are as follows:
- Ward 1 is the northeastern portion of the city, bound by Eisenhower Road on the north, the Missouri River to the east, Kansas Highway 7 on the west and roughly East Mary Street to the south, though a small portion of homes south of that street is also included. The total population of the ward is 2,126 people.
- Ward 2 is the southern portion of the city, bordered by the city limits on the east and DeSoto Road on the west and by Marxen Road to the south. Its northern boundary is roughly 4-H Road west of K-7, though parts of the neighborhood north of Willow Drive and east of Joshua Court were carved out and added to Ward 3. East of K-7, the boundary starts at Lansing Lane and follows subdivision roads on a diagonal path up to East Mary Street. The population of this ward is 2,238.
- Ward 3 is the west-central portion of the city. It is now bounded by DeSoto Road to the west and K-7 to the east. West of about Bittersweet Street, it is bounded on the north by Ida Street and to the south by 4-H Road. But the ward includes the neighborhoods north of Willow Drive and east of Joshua Court on its southern end and areas east of about Bittersweet Lane and south of Holiday Terrace, as well. The total population of the ward is 2,266.
- Ward 4 is the northwest part of the city, bordered mostly by Eisenhower Road to the north, K-7 to the east, Ida Street to the south — minus the area south of Holiday Terrace added to Ward 3 — and including the areas west of DeSoto Road. It’s total population is 2,295.
The new boundaries passed, 7-1, with Councilwoman Andi Pawlowski opposed.
“I still don’t like it,” she said. “I didn’t like it the first two times, I don’t like it now — I just don’t think we should separate subdivisions.”
Mayor Ken Bernard, however, said the population distribution made keeping all of the city’s subdivisions together extremely difficult.
“Unfortunately, when you add the numbers together, the numbers are supposed to be as close as possible, we had to,” he said.